Powered by center Seth Jarvis’ three-point night, the Carolina Hurricanes defended home ice and got an important win against the Pittsburgh Penguins. A much-needed two points moved the Hurricanes back to second place in the Metropolitan division where they only trail the New York Rangers.
Carolina (10-7-0) relied heavily on its top forward line and defensive pairing to secure the win against Pittsburgh (8-8-0) as the three forwards accounted for 11 of the team’s 12 points. Once again, Canes goaltender Antti Raanta shut the door against Pittsburgh’s top players and allowed Carolina to get into a rhythm without getting down by multiple goals, finishing the game 4-2.
“That whole line was good,” said head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “It was a tough matchup. [Pittsburgh was] good, Crosby’s line was great, they were all around it too.”
The Penguins and Hurricanes rank first and third in the NHL in terms of shots on goal per game, respectively, and in the first period it showed — the teams went back and forth firing pucks on net.
The Canes had a couple of opportunities to grab the lead early in the first. Right wing Stefan Noesen got the puck on a breakaway but fired wide, and center Sebastian Aho had both of his chances in the high-danger area turned away by goaltender Tristan Jarry. Despite the Canes’ early pressure, it was the Penguins who struck first. A bouncing puck found center Sidney Crosby at the back post, where he tapped it in for his 11th goal of the season.
“Was nice to see us battle back,” Jarvis said. “We never really lost hope, and I think that’s something that’s changed in the last little while.”
After a back-and-forth first period, Carolina settled in and had its most dominant period of the night. After giving away the puck seven times in the first, the Canes tightened up and only gave the puck away once in the second frame.
With the Hurricanes dominating possession in the second period, a goal seemed inevitable, and Aho cashed in just over 13 minutes into the period. Aho intercepted a pass right above the blue line and made a quick pass to Jarvis, who set up a tic-tac-toe goal for Aho right in front of the net.
“I mean, I think we could have probably had like six or seven goals,” Jarvis said. “It’s nice to get a couple and help things keep going.”
After holding the Penguins to just five shots in the second, Carolina built up some momentum entering the third. Left wing Teuvo Teravainen drew a slashing penalty against the Penguins just 44 seconds into the third period and gave the Canes a man advantage. The powerplay was expiring, but right wing Andrei Svechnikov put the puck on a tee for defenseman Brent Burns, who fired a clap-bomb from the point and put the Hurricanes up 2-1.
Even though the Canes took their first lead of the game, the team had to keep their foot on the pedal against an experienced Penguins team. Pittsburgh’s veteran group prevailed when Crosby tied the game just over six minutes later on a delayed penalty with his second goal of the night.
The game-winning goal came midway through the third, courtesy of Jarvis who tipped in a tape-to-tape pass from defenseman Jaccob Slavin. Jarvis’ second goal of the night would come in the leftover seconds of the game on the powerplay to solidify the result. The 21-year-old has taken his game to another level in his third season with the team totalling 13 points through the first 17 games.
“He’s growing as a player,” Brind’Amour said. “I just think he’s getting better in all areas, he’s killing penalties now, put a few more things on his plate and I think he’s doing a great job.”
Raanta put up another superb performance in front of the Caniac crowd, stopping 26 of the Penguins’ 28 shots on goal. The “Father Finn” never lost track of the puck and was the backbone of a tough win. Two crucial saves on short-handed breakaways kept the game from turning on its head and going Pittsburgh’s way.
Carolina will have three days off before its next game against the Edmonton Oilers at PNC Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 22 at 7 p.m.
